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Baghdad: The US military said yesterday it was setting a trap to "eliminate" militants near Baghdad where 12 US troops have died in the past two days.
Tens of thousands of US and Iraqi soldiers are pushing on with simultaneous operations in Baghdad and to the north, south and west of the capital under Operation Phantom Thunder, a new plan aimed at rooting out Al Qaida fighters and other militants.
The latest offensives, which began in the past week, follow the build-up of US military forces in Iraq to 156,000 soldiers and aim to deny militants sanctuary in the farmlands and towns surrounding Baghdad.
"If you've got it properly cordoned then they're going to flee into somebody's arms. It's a trap," US military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said. "To the extent that you can eliminate them, we will." Hard fighting was expected in the next 45-60 days, he said.
Military commanders have said they anticipate greater casualties as their forces press on with a four-month-old Baghdad security crackdown.
In the worst incident for the military in the past 48 hours, five soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle during combat operations in northeastern Baghdad yesterday. Four Iraqis also died.
Biggest killers
Another roadside bomb killed four US soldiers in Baghdad on Wednesday. Roadside bombs are by far the biggest killers of US forces in Iraq. A total of 3,545 US soldiers have been killed since the war began.
On Baghdad's southern flank, the military said 60 suspected insurgents were detained, 17 boats used to transport bomb parts in Baghdad were destroyed, and weapons caches were seized.
To the north, some 10,000 US and Iraqi troops assaulted Al Qaida hideouts in an operation focused on Baquba, the volatile capital of Diyala province.
Fox said it was too early to call Operation Phantom Thunder a turning point in the war. "This is a military operation with clear objectives: to set the conditions for the political and econ-omic progress that the government of Iraq needs to demonstrate."
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